Creative Operations Lead

About Design at Gusto

Design at Gusto is made up of over 80 creative collaborative people who care deeply about our mission to empower small businesses and their employees. We're a cross-functional group that is always looking for opportunities to build comprehending and empathy for the people who use Gusto. We don't care much about swim lanes and though we care deeply about quality and craft we are never precious about it. We work closely with cross-functional partners in Product Engineering Data and Marketing to design build and ship experiences that make a real difference. We believe great design can make hard things possible even delightful.

We are building an AI-native design organization — and we mean that seriously. We're looking for designers who are already working this way: using AI to prototype ideas quickly shorten customer feedback loops and ship quality UX directly to customers. This isn't a future goal — it's how we work now and it's changing what the design role looks like at Gusto and across the industry.

About the Role:

The work coming out of Gusto's Creative team has never been more ambitious or more central to our mission. Across brand campaigns production and content our creative work shapes how we reach connect with and serve small businesses and their employees. The volume variety and quality bar for that work keeps rising and we're building the operational foundation to match it. We want world-class creative work to happen predictably and at scale without the friction that slows great teams down.

We're looking for a Creative Operations Lead who brings genuine creativity to operational problems. The systems don't exist yet—you'll invent them. This isn't a role for someone who follows playbooks; it's for someone who writes them. You'll design and run the AI-enabled systems processes and programs that allow our brand creative and marketing teams to do their best work predictably and at pace. You'll also coach and develop a production manager building shared team capability as the function grows.

In this role you will rethink our operational approaches from the ground up using an AI-first mindset to rethink and scale how we work:

• Design and run the AI-enabled creative operating system. Build Gusto's complete creative ops infrastructure from the ground up. This includes frameworks for intake and prioritization. Develop resourcing models briefing workflows and production systems. Automate what should be automated and free the team for work that requires human judgment craft and creativity.
• Own vendor production and budget management: Lead agency and vendor relationships from scoping to payment to performance review. Partner with Finance to own budget tracking forecasting and reconciliation. Ensure every production has the right partners locked budgets and clear timelines before work begins.
• Improve throughput quality and predictability. Build systems and visibility tools. These tools will provide the management with real-time insight into pipeline health capacity and output quality. This allows the team to scale its impact without increasing its tension.
• Build cross-functional creative infrastructure: Partner with Marketing Brand People and other functions to align on shared processes SLAs and expectations. Create an operating model that gives every cross-functional partner clarity on how to engage the creative team—when how and at what cost. Create systems that enable teams to get what they need without bottlenecking through ops.
• Establish asset management and production oversight: Build or improve digital asset management (DAM) systems to ensure creative assets are organized discoverable and properly versioned. Define standards for naming storage archiving rights management and distribution that help the team execute consistently as it evolves.

This is a high-trust high-ownership role for someone who loves building things from scratch—and believes that great operations is a form of creative care. You'll report into Design leadership and work closely with brand marketing and agency partners across Gusto.

We are looking for a creative builder and ops leader with:

• 8+ years of experience in creative operations production management or program management within a brand creative or marketing function
• Demonstrated success building creative operations infrastructure from scratch or significantly improving an existing system at a scaling company—not just coordinating within one
• Solid production background. Hands-on experience managing large campaigns. This includes video and photo shoots as well as content programs in different formats.
• End-to-end ownership of agency and vendor management: scoping contracting invoicing payment and performance review
• Experience owning a creative or production budget including forecasting actuals tracking and Finance partnership
• A genuinely AI-native approach to operations—you use AI to redesign workflows not just hasten them up and you can point to specific systems you've built that others now rely on
• Proven ability to work across multiple functions (marketing brand people finance) and build trust as a reliable anticipatory operational partner
• A natural problem solver who brings creativity and ingenuity to operational challenges—someone who designs elegant systems not just workable ones
• Robust communicator and systems thinker who can document processes build shared operational fluency and make structure feel like an enabler rather than a constraint

At Gusto we strive to provide rewards that empower employees to achieve their financial and personal goals. We offer competitive compensation packages with a strong emphasis on equity based compensation (ownership in Gusto). To learn more about Gusto’s compensation philosophy and benefits offerings please view our Total Rewards Approach page.

Our cash compensation range for this role is $172000/yr to $215000/yr in Denver & most remote locations and $202000/yr to $253000/yr in San Francisco Seattle & New York. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including candidate experience and expertise and may vary from the amounts listed above.

What We Do

Gusto is a modern online small business platform that helps small businesses take care of their teams. On top of full-service payroll Gusto offers health insurance 401(k)s expert HR and team management tools. Today Gusto offices in Denver San Francisco and New York serve more than 400000 businesses. Our customers come from all walks of life and so do we. We hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds not just because it's the right thing to do but because it makes our company stronger. If you share our values and our enthusiasm for small businesses you will find a home at Gusto.

Why Work With Us

We help small businesses—the backbone of the economy—thrive. Everything we do ladders up to empowering entrepreneurs and supporting their teams. Gusto empowers builders at every level to take initiative and make things better. You'll be solving meaningful challenges that shape the future of work.

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